After the assassination attempt: Secret service chief resigns

Kimberly Cheatle leaves the message to her employees via email.

“I take full responsibility for the security breach,” Cheatle writes, continuing:

“In light of what has happened, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to resign as your manager”.

The message came at half past five Swedish time on Tuesday afternoon – just one day after Kimberly Cheatle was questioned in Congress.

The Secret Service has been criticized for how it was possible for the shooter to get so close to Trump, and several members of Congress have called for Cheatle’s resignation. On Monday, the Secret Service announced that no departure was expected.

Was informed of the shooter “two to five times”

It was during a campaign meeting just over a week ago that the Republican presidential candidate and ex-president Donald Trump was subjected to an assassination attempt.

The suspected shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired several shots and managed to hit Trump in the ear. If it weren’t for Trump turning his head just seconds before to point to a graph, the bullet would likely have hit his head.

The Secret Service was briefed on a suspect “two to five times” before the shooting, according to Kimberly Cheatle. The roof from which the shooter fired had also been identified as a possible weak point in the days leading up to the campaign meeting.

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